The Price We Pay
by Paligo
Summary: Finn and Jake are sent by Princess Bubblegum to help the Orc King get his throne back. Little did they know the journey would be tougher than expected.
1. We've got spirit, yes we do

There, in the still of the fierce fight, Finn weakly stood with his sword clutched in his hand. He was standing on top of a mountain, in a large crater, which looks like it was formed by an explosion. The gray clouds hugged the sky in a tight embrace, blocking out the sun.

His faithful partner and best friend, Jake, was fighting something. It sounded like multiple enemies, maybe three or four. When he glanced a look at what he was fighting, all he could determine that they were Jake's size. Finn hadn't been paying attention. He thought Jake would be able to handle them. Finn was fighting someone that was no match for him, and he knew it. At first, he thought it was a piece of cake for him and Jake. As the battle progressed they knew he was slowly gaining strength. Once he came back, he would be unstoppable.

Finn and Jake wanted to stop him. They desperately wanted to. Unfortunately, this wasn't going according to plan.

He was focused. His body was nearly broken but, he was trying his hardest to concentrate. Finn heard a footstep in the burnt remains of the mountain. A little quiet and short, but he heard it. He jumped in fear and turned around as fast as he could but he wasn't fast enough. Finn saw his face again. It had fierce expression as if he is giving it his all. He was. Finn then looked from his face to his right arm, which was swinging his sword. He was paralyzed in shock and fear.

His sword went through Finn's chest and made a horizontal gash.

And just like that, time slowed down for Finn.

After the swing, a foot connected with Finn's chest and sent him reeling in the air. He let go of his sword mid-air and it was flying for a few feet before clanging to the ground. Finn was a few inches out of its reach when he hit the ground hard. He had his head turned toward Jake and saw him look back at him.

"FINN!" Jake cried out.

Jake had an expression of fear, anger, despair. He wanted to go help him by any means necessary but Jake had his own battle to fight, and his attackers kept him as far away from Finn as possible. Jake was slowly closing ground between himself and Finn but his attackers made it difficult. He looked almost as bad as Finn did. Bruises, scratches and cuts all over his arms, legs, and chest.

Finn was tired. Severely injured and groaning in agony, exhausted physically and mentally, the colors of his backpack faded and scorched, clothes burnt and torn, he wondered if it was worth it. All that time and energy, wasted. He didn't foresee this moment. Not by a long shot. He saw his attacker walk toward him.

He wanted to get away. Far away. He wanted to carry Jake away from here. He wanted to be home before all this ever started. All it was is bad news, but he wanted to carry on with the fight. He couldn't.

He couldn't move, he was barely breathing, and there was blood everywhere. Finn's attacker stood over his battered body with the same sword that had his blood on it. You could faintly hear each drop of blood fall off the sword and hit the scorched mountain. Finn was still looking at Jake who is a little closer but still too far away to do anything.

From the corner of Finn's eye, he saw his attackers blood stained sword raise in the air, preparing to stab Finn for the last time. He could tell that the sword was aiming for his heart.

He relaxed his body. About to accept the fate that befell him. Remembering the good times that he had in his life, about to be tragically cut short.

A tear fell from his eye.

He hated to cry but in the next few moments, it wouldn't matter. He had a happy life. Short but happy, and filled with adventure and friends that he wouldn't trade the world for. He slowly closed his eyes and managed a small smile.

"How did it all come to this?" he asked himself.

Jake was frantically trying to get to Finn. Every second mattered, but even then, Jake feared that he would lose his companion and best friend. He started to cry out of anger and fear. That is all he could feel at the moment. That and the pained stings of Jake's attackers. That didn't matter to him. Through the tears and the pain, he still moved forward. It may have been too late. He started to feel cold.

Then Jake saw something he didn't comprehend.

Finn's backpack started glowing.

* * *

You're probably wondering how Finn and Jake got there. There is only one way to find out. The real story begins in chapter two so stay tuned!


	2. Sucker Punch

In a green field, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, where the grass is long and prickly, the trees are tall and swaying in the gentle breeze in the air, and the sun is shining, uninterrupted by the clouds passing by in the baby blue sky, Finn and Jake are inching toward a small clearing that has a park bench and a small water fountain. Taking advantage of the trees that are fairly large and healthy, Finn and Jake are hiding behind them to get closer to the bench. Step by step, the duo are trying to make as little noise as possible.

"Keep low, Jake. We need to have the element of surprise."

"Hold up, Finn. I think I hear something up ahead."

Both stop behind the nearest tree and listen for sounds. A voice can be heard in the clearing.

"Well my dear, are you ready for the _romantic_ picnic for you and me?" an inquisitive male voise asked.

"Please! Let me go! I don't want to be here or be with you!" another voice responded. This time, female.

"Oh, don't be silly! You're going to love what I've made for you. I've even brought sparkling grape juice!" the same male voice spoke up again.

Finn and Jake looked at each other with a firm look of confirmation. They found who they were looking for. There was a hill just past the park bench. They couldn't see them but, they know they found them and that now is the time to strike before things got to progress.

"Okay Jake, you ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

On that note Finn came out from behind the big tree trunk and sprinted full speed with Jake on all fours right behind him. Finn was coming closer and closer to the park bench that stood in the way between the hill and himself, so with a push from his left leg he rose into the air and his right leg was preparing to meet the park bench. Once his right leg made contact with the top of the bench, he put all his might into one jump that instantly put him in the air a few yards. Now airborne, Finn could now clearly see over the hill and he was ready for a fight.

"Ice King!" he yelled, catching the ice wizard off guard.

The Ice King jumped in surprise. He did not expect Finn to come find him. He thought he took every precaution to make sure he and his "date" was not found. He instantly was annoyed and angry because he was the last person he wanted to see.

"Finn?" the Ice King said out of shock and anger. "How did you ever-"

The Ice King was interrupted by Finn's left foot coming into contact with his face. Finn then used the leftover momentum from the first jump to push the Ice King back a few feet by his face, while performing a back flip that would make an Olympic judge proud. With Jake not far behind him, Jake stood up on two legs again and using his powers, he made a fist about the size of the Ice King and pushed him back even farther. Jake then continued to engage a fight with the Ice King

"Oh Finn! My hero! Thank you for coming to rescue me!" the female voice exclaimed.

Finn turned and smiled at a now relived Wildberry Princess who was smiling in joy. She had leg restraints on her legs so she would be unable to run and what looked like handcuffs on so she wouldn't be able to move her arms as much as she would have liked.

"No problem, princess. Its what I do." Finn responded contently.

"Yo, Finn! A little help here?" Jake asked

The Ice King was now aerial, with his beard flapping, carrying his weight. He was firing ice bolts at Jake. He was dodging all of them so far and, using his powers, trying to knock him out of the air with is arms but the Ice King kept dodging them and continued to fire ice bolts. On the ground, you could see sections of the once green grass, turn blue as part of the ground was now a solid chunk of ice.

"I'm coming Jake!" Finn responded

Finn started running towards Jake in an effort to help him take down the Ice King a peg or two. The Ice King saw Finn in his sights and started throwing some Ice Bolts his way. He was determined to freeze the dynamic duo so they could not bother him and Wildberry Princess on their "date".

Finn saw ice bolts come at him, but since they were a little far away from where the Ice King was flying, he dodged them with ease. Jake turned around and saw that Finn was coming closer and closer to him with each step.

"Jake, trampoline mode!" Finn shouted.

Almost instantly, Jake used his powers to become a small trampoline that was just the perfect size for Finn.

After dodging another ice bolt, Finn made another leap in the air and jumped on Jake's trampoline transformation. With a little push from Jake, Finn was again airborne and was closing the gap between himself and the Ice King. The Ice King saw the uncomfortable distance closing between him and Finn that he started to fly away from Finn but it was too late.

Finn crashed onto the Ice King and started punching his face with his right hand while his left was grabbing on his tunic so he wouldn't fall off. The sudden assault made the Ice King lose concentration on flying and gradually started to descend from the air. The Ice King took the impact of hitting the ground and grunted with pain from the fall. Even more annoyed he managed to slip a foot and put it on Finn's chest. With all of his might, he kicked Finn from on top of him and sent him flying backwards about eight yards. Once he was off of him, he stood up and put a hand over a spot where Finn hit him.

"Ugh! I've had enough of you two meddling with my affairs!" the Ice King shouted.

He then put his hands together and created a ball of icy cold blue energy. It grew in size until it was about the size of an inflated beach ball.

"Take this you losers!" he yelled as he threw the ice energy ball and was sent rapidly towards Finn.

Finn hadn't fully recovered when he was kicked by the Ice King, so he was completely vulnerable to the attack. He screamed and put his arms up in hopes of deflecting the attack, even though it would do no good against it.

It was then that Jake stepped between Finn and the Ice Kings attack and used his powers to deliver a punch with a long arm. However, his fist took the icy attack and his hand was now a ball of ice, the same size as the energy ball. So now, Jake was throwing a punch with a stretchy arm and a ball of ice on the end. This caught the Ice King by surprise and took the brunt of Jake's attack with his head, effectively knocking the crown off his head and knocking him out. He fell to the ground with a thud and just like that, the fight was over.

Jake then retracted his arm and turned to make sure Finn was alright.

"You okay, dude?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm more worried about you. You have a ball of ice as a hand now. Does it hurt? Finn asked while he poked at the ball of ice.

"Yeah, you get used to it once the ice numbing pain goes away and you cant feel your hand anymore." Jake plainly said.

Finn stared blankly at Jake unable to think of anything to say at the moment because he was a little shocked at the answer.

"You'll be fine. Go smash it on a tree or something and I'll wrap your hand up once we get back to the house." Finn responded

Jake then turned to find a sturdy tree to smash the ball of ice on while Finn went over to Wildberry Princess to remove the restraints that were forced on her.

"I can't thank you enough for saving me!"

Wildberry Princess was ecstatic that she wouldn't have to spend the afternoon with the Ice King.

"No problem, princess. Anytime." Finn said

As he broke the handcuffs removed the leg restraints, the princess gave Finn a nice kiss on the cheek to show her appreciation. She then proceeded to run back to her castle and relax.

Finn stood up, blushing, and said his farewells to the princess. At this time Jake was back at Finn's side with the ball of ice gone from his hand.

"Alright dude, lets go home. I miss feeling my fingers." Jake said

Finn could only let out a small laugh.

"Alright man, lets go." Finn responded

Finn started to run home at full speed, happy that the Ice King has been stopped for another day. Jake took one last look around the picnic sight and saw something he wanted to look at. He walked up to the picnic blanket and picked up a glass bottle that resembled a wine bottle.

"Aww yeah! Sparkling grape juice!"

Jake started whooping and took off running towards home.

Twenty minutes later Finn and Jake could see their home. They both slowed down from running to a nice walk to catch their breath. Jake is admiring the bottle of sparkling grape juice and thinking about what he may have with it when he decides to get some food.

"Hey Finn, what goes good with this stuff?" he asked as he held the bottle up with his non frozen hand.

"I don't know dude. A sandwich maybe?"

"What? Nah. I'm thinking something more fancy. Like escargot with a nice salad."

"Dude. That's disgusting."

"Feh! You have no taste!"

"Whatever yo! I'm not eating snail!"

Coming closer to the door of their house, Finn saw an envelope on the center of their door.

"Hey, Jake, what's that letter?" Finn asked

"I don't know. I'm not the letter fairy. Now, for the salad. Italian or Vinaigrette dressing?" Jake responded.

Finn ignored him, went up to the door and took the envelope off the door. On the front, its addressed to Finn and Jake and its sent from Princess Bubblegum. He opened the envelope, took out the letter and started to read it.

_Dear Finn and Jake,_

_ It has come to my attention that a great hero is now in need. I hope that you and Jake are up to the task. The Orc King from the mountain kingdom needs help reclaiming his rightful throne. Normally, I wouldn't bore the both of you with politics but this isn't like that, unfortunately. Come meet me and the Orc King my castle and we will fill you in on the details there. That means right now you goofballs!_

_ Yours Truly,_

_ Princess Bubblegum _

"Whoa!"Finn exclaimed

"What did it say man?" Jake asked

"PB needs our help. Something about the mountain kingdom and stuff."

"That's crazy! Lets go!" Jake yelled

Jake then paused and looked at his hand that was still partially frozen.

"Uh, lets go _after_ I fix my hand."


End file.
